The Adventures of Cloudclan 002
by SkyWaterfire02
Summary: After being punished, Gingerpaw takes the rest of the apprentices with her on a quest to get rid of the kittypets invading their territory. Will they get lost in Twolegplace? And will the warriors find out?
1. Chapter 1

The Adventures of Cloudclan 002

In the heart of a deep, deep forest, there lives a great clan of cats. These cats are noble, fearless, and loyal. They will fight to the death to defend their clan. And in times of trouble, they call upon Starclan, the clan of great cat spirits, to help them. This is Cloudclan.

It was late in the day, at sundown, when the training sessions ended. All of the apprentices were taken back to camp and each of them took a piece of prey from the fresh-kill pile. Tulippaw and Waterpaw chatted happily over a squirrel. But Gingerpaw, who was sitting alone, just stared at her shrew as she angrily thumped her tail against a rock. Recently, Gingerpaw had been acting very grumpy. Tulippaw, who was concerned about her friend, sat down beside her.

"What's wrong?" she asked. Gingerpaw sighed and began to explain.

"You know how the warriors are always talking about 'When we become warriors' this and 'When we become warriors' that? Well, it's just- when are we gonna become warriors? I wanna find out what my warrior name will be. I wanna be a warrior!" she wailed, digging her claws into the ground. Tulippaw was taken aback.

"But how do you know you're ready to be a warrior?" she asked.

"Are you kidding me? I was ready ages ago!" Gingerpaw whined. "I know every fighting and hunting move there is! The clan needs all the warriors they can get, but they won't make us warriors. I'm sick of training! It isn't fair!" And with that, she stormed off, leaving her shrew behind. Tulippaw watched after her, gaping.

"Don't worry about her," said Waterpaw, stretching. "You know her. By morning, she'll have forgotten about it."

Just then, a patrol of warriors emerged into camp. The patrol was led by Sunstar, and consisted of Ivyblaze and Skyclaw, a new warrior.

"Those stupid kittypets!" exclaimed Sunstar as she stormed into camp.

"What's wrong?" asked the medicine cat Moonshine, looking up from her painful work of picking thorns off bramble twigs.

"Those kittypets- the cats that live with Twolegs, are coming into our territory to hunt our prey," explained Ivyblaze.

"They never actually catch anything, but they make so much noise that they scare off all our prey," added Sunstar.

"Haven't you just tried to scare them off? Just hiss at them and they'll run away," suggested Snowfang, another new warrior.

"We've tried to scare them off," growled Ivyblaze. "But they just roll their eyes and ignore us. The arrogant fools! They don't understand that while they hunt for fun, we hunt to survive!"

Gingerpaw, overhearing this, rushed out of her den.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go attack them and they'll never come back!" she exclaimed. But Sunstar shook her head.

"We can't risk battle just yet," she said. "If the Twolegs found their kittypets scarred and beaten, they might come into the forest to find who did it. And what would happen to us if they found our territory?" Suddenly, Gingerpaw got very angry.

"What are you talking about?" she cried. "We'd be perfectly fine if we attacked them! The Twolegs wouldn't find us! They never have and they never will. You just don't want to listen to my ideas because I'm just an apprentice, even though my ideas are better than yours!"

The entire camp went silent. No one could believe that an apprentice had the nerve to speak to the leader like that. Finally, Rosepetal spoke.

"How _dare _you speak to Sunstar like that? If you ever speak to another cat like that again I'll-"

"Rosepetal," Sunstar coolly cut Rosepetal off. "I believe I'll handle this." She leapt down from the Highrock and looked Gingerpaw straight in the eye. "Gingerpaw, as your punishment, you'll be responsible for cleaning out every warrior's nest for a half-moon."

"What?!" cried Gingerpaw. "That's not fair! Can't the warriors clean their own nests?"

"Yes," replied the leader. "But I'm sure that they'll appreciate your help." And with that, Sunstar left.


	2. Chapter 2

The next afternoon, after Gingerpaw had grumbled through training, Gingerpaw was replacing the warriors' old moss with fresh moss Cloverpelt had given her. It wasn't that hard, since there weren't that many warriors in the clan, but Gingerpaw still had to keep herself from ripping the moss to shreds in anger. The other apprentices stood impatiently, waiting for the hunting patrol to bring supper. When the hunting party of Sunstar, Skyclaw, and Rosepetal came in to camp, the apprentices rushed forward.

"Finally, food!" Waterpaw said. "I'm starved!" Rosepteal just shook her head and dropped off a small, pathetic sparrow, their only addition to the fresh-kill pile.

"That's _it?_" Cloverpelt cried in dismay.

"These kittypets are more of a problem then I had expected," growled Sunstar. "All the prey was scared off, and kittypet stench was everywhere. We were choking on it! We're lucky we found this dead sparrow, or we would have starved!" Gingerpaw pricked her ears. She had an idea.

"Well, the apprentices must be fed first. They can split the bird," decided Ivyblaze.

"But not Gingerpaw," mewed Rosepetal. "She's in trouble. She doesn't get food."

"Doesn't matter. I'm not hungry," snapped Gingerpaw, who wasn't willing to admit her stomach was growling louder than a lion's roar.

"Something must be done about these kittypets," declared Moonshine.

"I understand your concerns. I will have a plan by sunhigh," replied Sunstar.

"_We don't have 'till sunhigh," _thought Gingerpaw, digging her claws into the moss of a nest. Meanwhile, Cloverpelt sat down beside Rosepetal.

"Gingerpaw seems really upset," she sympathized.

"She deserves to be," muttered Rosepetal. Then, she sat up and yawned. "Well, we should all be getting to our nests."

"That I changed!" called out Gingerpaw. Rosepetal muttered something about ignorant apprentices and irritably started towards her den.

"Wait!" called out Moonshine, through a mouthful of herbs. "All the cats that haven't eaten eat these. They'll reduce your pangs of hunger."

"That's very kind of you Moonshine, but we can't use up your traveling herbs," said Ivyblaze. Moonshine flicked her tail.

"Well I don't suppose anyone will be_ traveling_ anywhere, will they?" she replied. Ivyblaze shrugged and ate the herbs with the rest of the warriors. Skyclaw bit into the herbs and gagged.

"They taste bitter!"

"Yes, but you'll be thankful for them when you're free of hunger pains during the night," Cloverpelt shot back. Moonshine took the left over herbs and took them to Gingerpaw.

"I know you didn't eat anything, so you can have these herbs," she offered.

"No thanks, I don't need them," Gingerpaw said.

"Alright, suit yourself then," Moonshine said, and slipped out of the den. Gingerpaw curled up in her nest and pretended to be asleep, but secretly kept one eye open that watched the other apprentices as they went to sleep. She waited for what seemed like forever as slowly, one by one, the warriors retreated to their dens. Soon, the camp was so quiet she could hear her own heart beating. Absolutely certain that every warrior was asleep, she sat up. There was no alternative to her plan.


	3. Chapter 3

"Wake up. Wake up!" Waterpaw was dreaming. She was in a meadow, batting at little dandelion puffs. But a very annoying bunny was nudging her and hissing in her ear. _"Wake up!" _

Waterpaw's eyes opened. It was not a bunny, but Gingerpaw who was shaking her. Sitting up, she noticed Tulippaw was also awake.

"This had better be pretty important, because you just woke me from a great dream," she snarled.

"It _is _important!" Gingerpaw flicked her tail. "I have a plan that will rid us of those kittypets and make us warriors!"

"Really?" Tulippaw questioned suspiciously.

"Yes!" mewed Gingerpaw, unable to contain her excitement. "Here's what we need to do. We need to find those kittypets' den, sneak in-"Gingerpaw was cut off by Tulippaw's cry of protest.

"Sneak into a Twoleg nest?! Are you out of your-"

"Shhh!" Gingerpaw slapped her tail over Tulippaw's mouth. "Be quiet! We can't wake the other warriors!"

"We can't just sneak out of camp! That's against the rules!" Tulippaw hissed.

"I don't care!" spat Gingerpaw. "We have to do this! We just have to get inside the den, find the kittypets, and demand that they stay out of our territory."

"So… you think that they'll just stay out of the woods if we _ask _them to?" questioned Waterpaw.

"They probably will," replied Gingerpaw. "From what I've heard, they're not really dangerous; they just don't realize what they're doing. If we make them see reason, they'll stop."

"But what if they don't see reason?" asked Tulippaw.

"Then we'll threaten them. We'll tell them that we have a right to defend our territory and that we'll shred them if they set paw on it again," answered Gingerpaw.

"And what if that doesn't work?" prompted Waterpaw. Gingerpaw flicked her ears. She hadn't thought that far ahead.

"It'll work," she insisted. "They won't go looking for a fight. If they wanted a fight, they would have gotten one a long time ago. All we have to do is make our point clear to them. We're wasting time. Let's go."

Tulippaw and Waterpaw exchanged unsteady glances, and then Waterpaw stepped forward.

"Well, what have we got to lose? I'm all for it," she said. Tulippaw sighed.

"Well, if you two are going, I guess that means I'll have to come too." And with that, the three ran off into the woods, their noses and ears on alert for any night patrols.

It just so happens, to the apprentices' misfortune, that while they were sneaking off, Skyclaw was returning from the dirtplace tunnel. She was sniffing around for some flowers, as the dirtplace tunnel stunk, and she needed something to wash the putrid scent out of her nose. But what she smelled wasn't flowers. It was the scent of cat. Familiar cats. Her ears pricked. The apprentices! What were they doing? Apprentices weren't allowed out of camp without a mentor. She followed their trail until she found them. They were huddled under a birch tree, whispering among themselves.

"Which way is Twolegplace?" hissed Gingerpaw.

"I think it's that way," mewed Tulippaw, pointing with her tail.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" spat Waterpaw. Skyclaw flinched, horrified. Why were they going to Twolegplace? Her mind whirled. What should she do? Confront them? Run back to camp to get help? She could do that. The camp wasn't that far away. Just as the apprentices were running off, Skyclaw backed into some bracken and headed towards camp. Blindly stumbling through the entrance, she screeched an alarm.

"The apprentices! They've snuck off! They're gone!" With every cat fully awake, Sunstar came out of her den.

"What in the name of Starclan is going on?" she demanded. Skyclaw panted and tried to explain.

"The apprentices- dirtplace tunnel- Twolegplace-"

"Slow down Skyclaw," Cloverpelt said calmly. "We can't understand what you're trying to say." Skyclaw caught her breath.

"I was coming back from the dirtplace tunnel, and I saw the apprentices out of their nests. I overheard them saying something about going to Twolegplace," she panted.

"Why didn't you just confront them?" questioned Vixenstep.

"I wanted to, but I didn't know if they would listen," Skyclaw mewed guiltily.

"It's alright, you've done nothing wrong," said Rosepetal.

"We're wasting time!" snapped Sunstar. "The longer we wait here, the farther away from camp the apprentices are getting!" Turning to Skyclaw, she mewed "Skyclaw, stay here with Moonshine, Snowfang, and Cloverpelt to guard the camp. The rest of us will go find the apprentices." So with no more time to spare, they left.


	4. Chapter 4

The fence. The big, long, white border between the forest and Twolegplace. Whenever she'd come near it, Tulippaw had often wondered if it stretched on forever. Now, she wondered how they were going to get over it.

"It's not as hard as it looks," Gingerpaw said as she approached it. "It's just a bit of a jump and a climb." Leaning back on her hind legs, Gingerpaw lunged at the fence, dug her claws into the wood, and pulled herself over. Sitting on the fence, she looked back at Tulippaw and Waterpaw, satisfied. "See? All you have to do is jump, get on a grip on the fence, and climb up. Now you try."

Digging her claws into the ground, Tulippaw leapt at the fence, only to have her head slam into it. Tumbling back on the ground, Tulippaw shook out her head, embarrassed.

"Try again," said Gingerpaw. This time, when Tulippaw lunged for the fence, Gingerpaw bit her paw and helped her up.

"Ouch!" snapped Tulippaw.

"Sorry," said Gingerpaw. Now it was Waterpaw's turn. Backing up, Waterpaw jumped and clawed at the fence, only to slide back down to the ground.

"Need help?" offered Gingerpaw.

"No, no, I'm fine," Waterpaw huffed. She backed up, ran straight at the fence, jumped, and landed right on top of the fence, not needing to pull herself up.

"Let's move," said Gingerpaw. Weaving their way through the many Twoleg nests, Tulippaw turned to Gingerpaw.

"How are we supposed to find those kittypets here?" she asked.

"We just follow their scent trails," answered Gingerpaw. Following a scent trail through Twolegplace proved to be much harder than following a trial through the woods. There were so many dizzying, different scents, and they got lost several times. One Twoleg even sprayed them with water to shoo them away. But after what seemed like forever, they finally found the nest. Following the scent trails, the three found a tiny flap that led them into the nest. Since they had made it that far and there was no going back, they plunged in.


	5. Chapter 5

A twoleg nest is a very strange place for a cat to be. The first thing the apprentices realized was that everything was so… _giant._ It was hard not to think of how something might fall down on you and crush you.

"We have to be careful," Gingerpaw was explaining. "We're in another cat's territory, so we have to make it clear that we come in peace."

"The air reeks of kittypet scent," Waterpaw commented. "We're bound to find them soon." And then they heard a low, unfamiliar voice.

"Just what do you think you're doing here?"

The three apprentices turned around in horror, to find the two kittypets. One was a plump black and white tom with green eyes; the other was a tabby she-cat with amber eyes. The she-cat had challenged them, although her voice had no hostility, only curiosity. The apprentices looked at each other nervously, and then Gingerpaw stepped forward.

"I'm Gingerpaw and this is Waterpaw and Tulippaw," she said, introducing the others. "We come in peace. We're from Cloudclan."

"Ohhhh, so you're those annoying forest cats," the tom said. Gingerpaw growled and started to object, but Waterpaw shoved her out of the way.

"Yes. We've come to-"

"Learn about twolegs?" guessed the she-cat.

"Yes exactly- no wait- _what?" _Waterpaw stumbled, confused.

"You know, Twolegs are very fascinating creatures," began the tom. "Did you know that they use groups of symbols to represent words? I'm starting to understand them. In fact, I can read the ingredients on a bottle of mustard."

"What's mustard?" asked Tulippaw.

"Tulippaw!" Gingerpaw hissed. "That's beside the point!"

"Oh right, sorry," said Tulippaw. The tom snatched a brightly colored container and both he and the she-cat began to study it.

"Hmmm, let's see here: distilled vinegar, water, mustard seed…" the tom began listing.

"Umm… excuse me, this is very interesting, but we need to-"Tulippaw interrupted.

"Salt, turmeric, paprika…" the tom continued.

"Look, we need you to-"Waterpaw started.

"Spice, natural flavors and garlic powder-"

"_LISTEN!" _shouted Gingerpaw. The two kittypets looked up at her. Gingerpaw took a deep breath and started to explain.

"Look, we didn't come here to learn about twolegs. We came here because we need to ask you to stop hunting on our territory." The kittypets stopped and looked at each other.

"Why should we?" the she-cat challenged, this time with anger. "We have every right to be there."

"No you don't!" Waterpaw objected. "You can't hunt on another cat's territory!"

"Hunting is the only way we get food," added Tulippaw.

"Well, why can't you just eat twoleg food?" asked the tom, appalled.

"Twoleg food? No way!" spat Gingerpaw, disgusted. "We're wild cats; we don't accept food from twolegs!"

"Well, you should," argued the tom. "Twoleg food tastes great!" He paused to think. "Well, most of it does, anyway. The other day I bit into some Twoleg thing and it was disgusting!"

"Yes," sighed the she-cat. "That's because you bit into a used diaper."

"Oh," said the tom, looking sick.

"It's against our rules to take food from twolegs. The forest is the only way we get food, and if you keep scaring off our prey, we'll starve!" wailed Tulippaw.

"Tulippaw, don't make us look weak!" hissed Gingerpaw. But she continued.

"If we don't have any prey to eat, the clan might disband. Or worse, we'll all starve to death!"

The two kittypets glanced at each other and started whispering among themselves. Then, the she-cat turned back to them.

"Alright," she said. "We'll find someplace else to hunt."

"Thank you so much!" exclaimed Waterpaw. Just then, Sunstar, Rosepetal, Vixenstep, and Ivyblaze burst into the nest.

"Oh no," moaned Gingerpaw.

"Yay! More forest cats!" the she-cat mewed excitedly.

"Gingerpaw! Waterpaw! Tulippaw! What in the name of Starclan are you doing!?"

"It looks like you're in trouble," the tom said.


	6. Chapter 6

Rosepetal was pacing back and forth.

"I just don't understand- what were you thinking? You know apprentices aren't allowed to leave camp at night! And to go to a Twoleg nest?" The apprentices hung their heads. Vixenstep stiffened and flattened her ears.

"It's those kittypets!" she hissed. "The ones who have been stealing our prey!"

"Hello," said the she-cat in a friendly tone.

"Great Starclan, I will rip you to shreds for-"Ivyblaze started.

"Oh, please don't!" pleaded Tulippaw. "It's okay. They've agreed not to hunt in our territory anymore. That's why we came here, to talk to them." Rosepetal looked stunned.

"Wait, you got these kittypets to agree to stop hunting in our territory without even fighting them?" she asked in disbelief. The apprentices nodded.

"That's funny," Sunstar said. "Last I remember Gingerpaw, you wanted to fight."

"But I changed my mind," said Gingerpaw.

"That's right," said the tom. "We promise we will never again hunt in your forest." Ivy blaze eyed them suspiciously.

"How do we know you're not lying?" she challenged.

"We can prove we're not lying," said the tom. "In fact, we'll even take the official oath." Both cats rang out the oath.

"We solemnly swear that we will never-"

"Thanks, but that won't be necessary," interrupted Sunstar.

"Now we can become warriors!" mewed Waterpaw excitedly.

"Shhh!" hissed Gingerpaw. Ivyblaze turned to them.

"Is that what this was all about? To become warriors?"

"That's what Gingerpaw said," explained Tulippaw. "She said after we saved our prey, that you would be so grateful you would make us warriors." Rosepetal turned to Gingerpaw.

"Did you really think that breaking the rules would make you a warrior?" Gingerpaw hung her head.

"We will discuss this when we get back to camp," Sunstar broke in. Turning to the kittypets, she said "Thank you for agreeing to stay off our territory."

"Oh, it was nothing," said the she-cat. "Can you believe it?" she exclaimed, turning to the tom. "A wild cat actually thanked us!" Suddenly they heard a thump above them.

"What was that?" hissed Vixenstep.

"Oh, that was our twoleg," answered the tom. "He's waking up now." It was starting to get light outside.

"What?" hissed Sunstar. "Your twoleg can't find us here!"

"Well then you'd better leave," the she-cat said. "He'll be coming down soon."

"Come on warriors, let's go," ordered Sunstar. As the leader rallied up the cats and lead them out, Tulippaw realized she'd forgotten something. She rushed back into the nest.

"I'm sorry, I never got your names," she said. The she-cat lifted her head.

"What? Oh yes. My name's Paylor. And that's Scruffy." She replied, motioning to the tom.

"Goodbye, Paylor and Scruffy. And thank you," Tulippaw said. Then she left to catch up to her clan, thinking that maybe kittypets weren't so bad after all.

When they reached the camp, Sunstar called a clan meeting.

"Waterpaw, Gingerpaw, and Tulippaw, you broke the rules and snuck out of camp without a warrior. Waterpaw and Tulippaw, you will be helping Gingerpaw clean the warriors' nests," Sunstar rang out. Waterpaw and Tulippaw sighed. "However," Sunstar continued. The apprentices stiffened. "The apprentices also helped bring back our prey, and for that, they will only have to clean the nests for a quarter-moon instead of a half-moon." The apprentices grinned at each other. "Also, I want to organize a hunting patrol to restock the fresh-kill pile," Sunstar continued. "Skyclaw, Ivyblaze, and Vixenstep, you go hunt." The 3 warriors left. Moonshine got up and stretched her paws.

"Well, I better go restock on traveling herbs," she said. Gingerpaw went up to the other apprentices. "One day, Sunstar will be addressing us for a different reason," she said. "She'll be giving us our warrior names!"

"Yes she will," said Rosepetal, overhearing. "When you learn not to sneak out of camp. Now I believe you're supposed to be cleaning the dens!"


End file.
